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Well yes, but one problem with Altemeyer's work is that I think it ties authoritarians too closely to the Right.

I have a theory that Marxism and Bolshevism - and possibly socialism and even trade unionism - would have been irrelevant if they hadn't also had some authoritarian appeal.

What used to happen was that the authoritarian types were split between right and left narratives, and this helped to keep both in check, because two sets of bullies squared off with each other.

Now there's only a far right narrative, with christo-fascism for the noobs and neolib economics for the more intellectual types.

However - the christo-fascists are starting to simmer with betrayal. And there's a sizeable faction who would be easy pickings for someone with an anti-government anti-Washington narrative with more of a blue collar slant if they also mixed it up with some christo-fascism.

If the US implodes economically, a movement like that could become a significant force. (This might sound unlikely, but the current Christian Reich would have seemed unlikely twenty or thirty years ago.)

It probably wouldn't be anyone from today's left as we know it. But one the US doesn't lack is opportunists and chancers, and if the heat is turned up on the social pressure cooker, all kinds of nasty things could start boiling out of it.

by ThatBritGuy (thatbritguy (at) googlemail.com) on Thu Apr 5th, 2007 at 07:13:43 AM EST
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